During my driving days I realized that driving was easy but getting 'license to drive' was the tricky part. As my classes were on the verge of end, the thought of failing in driving exam started creeping into my mind. There was as such no valid reason for it but somehow I was not at all satisfied about my driving skills. If it was me taking my exam I would have surely failed myself. Blame it on my cab driver who is excellent behind the wheels & the dream of driving like him in those 15 days made me sulk. The only change I noticed was the attitude of my teacher during the last few days. He transformed from his criticizing self to an encouraging self & was even encouraging me in my mistakes. I suppose the reason behind it might be the 'Gurudakshina' (some extra income), which I promised to pay if I passed the exam.
The D-day was near. The two devils I mentioned before (Biswal & Ojha) had already passed their exams. They told about their experience, gave me tips for success & eventually made me more nervous.
On that day I reached at 1 pm at Maddox Square (a place with many old memories not relevant to this topic though). The place was a complete chaos. There were people of all shapes & sizes, cars of prehistoric ages & a few people from the training centers. But the most awaited one was no where seen. We waited & waited like a band on Romeo's waiting for Juliet to appear. But time was precious so we all were given a trial run before the final exam. As always there was gender bias-ness & we had our turn after the fairer sex finished the trial. The person from the training center was a grumpy man (as told before by Biswal) & was misbehaving with everyone ,except a few ,(bias-ness one more). This time the car did not stop while starting. I was regaining my confidence. Next was trial for signal test. We were made to stand in a line. One of them started shouting 'Right turn, Left turn, Starting signal.......' & we were showing those. This reminded me of my school days where we did PT during sports class. I was doing as miserable as I did during those PT classes. My terrible sense of direction made the situation more worse. It takes time for me to determine what is left & right. Blame my apolitical outlook for this. So I decided to do 'follow the leader' & started doing exactly what the person in front was doing. Next was the turn for the actual exam.
After a wait of 3 hours our Juliet finally appeared. Well, he can surely give a competition to the annoying girlfriends who keeps you waiting for hours. Our group was quickly divided into 4 subgroups & were posted at 4 corners of the park. First it was gender bias-ness once more. He was sitting in the front seat beside the driver & 4 persons were told to enter the Maruti 800, one in front, 3 behind. When the first one finished his test he was deserted at the middle of the road & another from the back seat occupied his place. This process continued till all the 4 were done with. Next they picked up 4 more from the nearest available corner. There was another Training car following the maruti 800 with another 4 persons for situations when there was no nearest corner available. To top it up one of the training center guy was jogging beside the test car giving instructions to the driver. Now you can figure out the speed with which we were driving. In our case the Grumpy guy started running. 'Well, now I realize the cause of his grumpiness.'
When it was my turn to take the drivers seat, he asked me my name. I replied. 'Well I did answer the first question right'. Next he ordered to start the car. I started the engine, pressed the clutch, shifted gear & did the most difficult task successfully. 'to lose your gear in 5 seconds without stopping the car.' Well I did it. Done with the hard part. I was so overwhelmed with my success that I did not realize that my car was going to bump into a parked car. The constant shouting from outside made me take control of the steering & I quickly shifted to second gear. 'Stop here' he ordered. My driving test was over. With rats running inside my stomach(due to both tension & hunger) I returned to the starting place. The successful candidates were returned their applications whereas the failed one complained, argued, begged for another chance. I got my application back. After everyone was done with their test we were routed to Motor Vehicles office at Beltala. It was 5 mins walk from the Park. Now my long legs & young age came into use. I quickly took top gear & overtook most of them & finished among the top 5 at the office. Well I deliberately left a few people in front of me as I was reluctant to be the first one. At the signal test the first signal which I showed was wrong. 'Oh shit, not this time. This was supposed to be the easy part. I don't want to fail here. God, please save me.' My prayers were heard and God sent his angel. 'So you live in Rajpur?' I heard another voice. Yes' , I replied. 'I also live there' the Angel replied. My Angel was in form of a old person working there who was checking my documents. I started chatting with him & suddenly realized that my test was abruptly over & another person was giving the signal test. But the Blues did not end there. Due to server issue we had to go there the next day for the photograph & signature. Well that's another story.
The D-day was near. The two devils I mentioned before (Biswal & Ojha) had already passed their exams. They told about their experience, gave me tips for success & eventually made me more nervous.
On that day I reached at 1 pm at Maddox Square (a place with many old memories not relevant to this topic though). The place was a complete chaos. There were people of all shapes & sizes, cars of prehistoric ages & a few people from the training centers. But the most awaited one was no where seen. We waited & waited like a band on Romeo's waiting for Juliet to appear. But time was precious so we all were given a trial run before the final exam. As always there was gender bias-ness & we had our turn after the fairer sex finished the trial. The person from the training center was a grumpy man (as told before by Biswal) & was misbehaving with everyone ,except a few ,(bias-ness one more). This time the car did not stop while starting. I was regaining my confidence. Next was trial for signal test. We were made to stand in a line. One of them started shouting 'Right turn, Left turn, Starting signal.......' & we were showing those. This reminded me of my school days where we did PT during sports class. I was doing as miserable as I did during those PT classes. My terrible sense of direction made the situation more worse. It takes time for me to determine what is left & right. Blame my apolitical outlook for this. So I decided to do 'follow the leader' & started doing exactly what the person in front was doing. Next was the turn for the actual exam.
After a wait of 3 hours our Juliet finally appeared. Well, he can surely give a competition to the annoying girlfriends who keeps you waiting for hours. Our group was quickly divided into 4 subgroups & were posted at 4 corners of the park. First it was gender bias-ness once more. He was sitting in the front seat beside the driver & 4 persons were told to enter the Maruti 800, one in front, 3 behind. When the first one finished his test he was deserted at the middle of the road & another from the back seat occupied his place. This process continued till all the 4 were done with. Next they picked up 4 more from the nearest available corner. There was another Training car following the maruti 800 with another 4 persons for situations when there was no nearest corner available. To top it up one of the training center guy was jogging beside the test car giving instructions to the driver. Now you can figure out the speed with which we were driving. In our case the Grumpy guy started running. 'Well, now I realize the cause of his grumpiness.'
When it was my turn to take the drivers seat, he asked me my name. I replied. 'Well I did answer the first question right'. Next he ordered to start the car. I started the engine, pressed the clutch, shifted gear & did the most difficult task successfully. 'to lose your gear in 5 seconds without stopping the car.' Well I did it. Done with the hard part. I was so overwhelmed with my success that I did not realize that my car was going to bump into a parked car. The constant shouting from outside made me take control of the steering & I quickly shifted to second gear. 'Stop here' he ordered. My driving test was over. With rats running inside my stomach(due to both tension & hunger) I returned to the starting place. The successful candidates were returned their applications whereas the failed one complained, argued, begged for another chance. I got my application back. After everyone was done with their test we were routed to Motor Vehicles office at Beltala. It was 5 mins walk from the Park. Now my long legs & young age came into use. I quickly took top gear & overtook most of them & finished among the top 5 at the office. Well I deliberately left a few people in front of me as I was reluctant to be the first one. At the signal test the first signal which I showed was wrong. 'Oh shit, not this time. This was supposed to be the easy part. I don't want to fail here. God, please save me.' My prayers were heard and God sent his angel. 'So you live in Rajpur?' I heard another voice. Yes' , I replied. 'I also live there' the Angel replied. My Angel was in form of a old person working there who was checking my documents. I started chatting with him & suddenly realized that my test was abruptly over & another person was giving the signal test. But the Blues did not end there. Due to server issue we had to go there the next day for the photograph & signature. Well that's another story.
No comments:
Post a Comment